Sunday, February 19, 2017

Logano Wins Advanced Auto Parts Clash at Daytona

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Joey Logano won the rain-delayed Advanced Auto Parts Clash on Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

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Logano took the lead on the last lap when Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin got together racing for the lead.  Logano said he was going to push his teammate Keselowski to the front, but could foresee the wreck at the end of the race.

“I knew Brad was going to make the move, and I was just going to follow him through,” Logano said.  “But when I saw the 11 [of Hamlin] coming down, I immediately went to the top; the writing was on the wall what was going to happen.”

“Kind of was the right place at the right time.”

Joe Gibbs Racing dominated throughout the race, with the four-car team of Matt Kenseth, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch and Hamlin running in the top five during most of the day.  Logano said he knew a strong team would have to work together to break up the stronghold the Toyotas held on the lead.

“I knew the only way we were going to beat those Gibbs cars was to break them up, and we had to be a better team than they were,” Logano said.  “We were able to break them up and get ourselves up there to make the big move at the end of the race.”

Hamlin ended up finishing 13th as a result of his accident, but he said he wouldn’t have done anything differently at the end of the race.

“There’s really not much I could do differently to defend,” Hamlin said.  “I was in a bad spot there.”
“We lined up so well as Toyota teammates throughout the race that once those guys started breaking that up…when they were able to get up there that really put us at a speed differential.”

Unofficial results:
1. Joey Logano
2. Kyle Busch
3. Alex Bowman
4. Danica Patrick
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Chase Elliott
8. Daniel Suarez
9. Chris Buescher
10. Jamie McMurray
11. Matt Kenseth
12. Austin Dillon
13. Denny Hamlin
14. Kyle Larson
15. Martin Truex Jr.
16. Jimmie Johnson
17. Kurt Busch  

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